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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (25649)	1/9/2005 10:06:27 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

What is your definition of tort reform? What do you expect tort reform to achieve? There are some 3-4 lobbyists to every member of Congress. Under Bush, businesses are selecting their own slate of judicial nominees. Many in Congress, including Republicans, are lawyers. What about the pool company that Edwards sued? "Beyond representing clients in routine personal injury cases, Edwards developed a specialty in swimming pool injury cases. In one case involving a 5-year-old girl who was disemboweled by suction from a pool drain, the jury awarded her $25M, the highest personal injury award in North Carolina history at the time." ------ according to him, some screws that would have cost a few pennies would have prevented this. The suction from a malfunctioning drain is so strong that people were getting their hair sucked into it. The company knew this, it wasn't as if it was a big surprise but apparently they didn't do anything about it. Should that company simply get away with it? What about the exploding tires and the rollover SUVs? What about benzene in bottled water because the tanks were improperly cleaned? What about Vioxx and the 27,000 heart attacks and strokes? What about surgeons lopping off the wrong limb? What would happen if companies had NO LIABILITY for anything that their product did? What do you think would happen? Do you want to live in that world? If so, Afghanistan beckons. That's about as pure a market economy as exists in the world = total chaos but a bumper crop of opium. Why aren't capitalists moving there in droves? He who has power, takes all. Why aren't the hinterlands of Afghanistan a tremendous draw? Why? ==== Those states which have tort reform have shown no significant decrease in insurance rates. Then what is the purpose of tort reform? I can certainly see lawyers not getting paid $2,000/hour for a case and I can certainly see the bs of class action....for the injured consumer. THAT kind of tort reform makes sense as long as the rewards outweigh the financial risks for law firms. Otherwise, they will not take the case as most defendants can't foot the bill. Oh yeah, tort reform (capping or eliminating awards) as Bush envisions it is government interference in a market economy. Whatever happened to the free marketeers in the RNC? You're right, there are none.